Monday, January 16, 2012

Ishmael is the narrator (and arguably the protagonist) of the 1851 novel
Moby-Dick by U.S. author Herman Melville. It is through his eyes and experience
that the reader experiences the story of the ship Pequod, and the fight between
Captain Ahab and the white whale. He is a central character in the action in the
early part of the novel, essentially fulfilling all the requirements of being a
conventional protagonist. After the Pequod leaves Nantucket, he increasingly
recedes into the background as a commentator, with his voice approaching that of
an omniscient narrator at times, able to see into all parts of the ship and into
the private motivations of other characters.

Ishmael introduces himself
in the opening sentence of the novel with the well-known line "Call me Ishmael."
The name Ishmael is Biblical in origin: in Genesis, Ishmael was the son of
Abraham by the servant Hagar, who was cast off after the birth of Isaac, who
inherits the covenant of the Lord instead of his older half-brother. In the
Islamic tradition, with which Melville was certainly much less familiar, Ishmael
is an heir of Abraham. In "Moby-Dick" Ishmael does not comment on the
significance of his own name, but he does refer to himself by that name several
times in the book.

Ishmael provides little about his personal background before his
decision at the beginning of the novel to journey to Nantucket, Massachusetts to
enlist as a sailor on a whaler. There is evidence in the text to suggest that he
was formerly a school-teacher who left that life of theory to pursue the more
practical life at sea. At the beginning of the novel, he is an experienced
seaman who has not previously served on a whaler but in the merchant marine
service (an experience that is ridiculed by the owners of the Pequod when he
approaches them to sign on).

He begins the novel in the first chapter wandering through Manhattan in the
dreariness of November with dark thoughts suggesting nearly suicidal tendencies:
pausing before coffin houses and following funerals. His primary reason for
going to sea, he suggests, is to break out of this depressive cycle and
obsession with death. Ishmael tends to brood and think his way through things,
going so far as to describe himself as a philosopher in The Mast-Head. Ishmael,
while seemingly rejecting the arts, does confess that he is—or at least was at
one point—a poet.

From the source:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having
little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore,
I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It
is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.
Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp,
drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before
coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and
especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a
strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street,
and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get
to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a
philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the
ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men
in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings
towards the ocean with me.

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Just An Old Cowhand On The TiVo Grande

As the Trickster once said, "Reality is boring, that's why I change it whenever I can."
I'm just "The Man Who Viewed Too Much", and "Inner Toob" is a blog exploring and celebrating the 'reality' of an alternate universe in which everything that ever happened on TV actually takes place.
Most of my theories about the TV Universe come from thinking inside the box and thus can't be proven. But I've never been one to shy away from a tall tale.....
Remember: "The more you watch, the more you've seen!"